8 years of broken promises

May 20, 2008 was a
day that will live in infamy. Age of
Conan was released broken, bereft of many features promised. The company went on to blame its customers
for many of these problems; I believe it was Gaut himself that claimed the lack
of participation in the beta server was the cause of so many bugs making it
through THEIR QA onto production. It was
a galling accusation that left me dumbstruck.
Were these developers so disconnected from reality?

My view of the
gaming industry and MMOs was forever changed for the worst. I spiraled into a depressive realization that
my industry heroes, the champions at Funcom that claimed they were flipping the
MMO genre on its head and making a WoW killer, were nothing but
charlatans. Funcom was more interested
in their bottom line than meeting their promises. Innocence was lost that day.

I learned that year:

Erling Ellingsen is
a liar.

MMOs are released
blatantly unfinished with no apologies to that fact

Little is learned at
Funcom when they repeat their launch failures two games in a row.

History tends to
repeat itself when bad management is involved.

Beta tests are a
marketing tool and have little to do with balancing and finding issues.

There was a glimmer
of hope for a time. The game was a
visual splendor and the skill based melee combat was a breath of fresh
air. But where was the blood coins? The
sieging? The mounted combat? The bar room brawls? The DX 10 support?

3 months? Then 6
months? The next expansion? When would the failed promises end?

They abused and
misused our trusts. For the most part we
let them. Now we pay the price; the
industry was changed forever. The
consumers are no longer in control.

But, I do hope the
current state of Age of Conan is a lesson learned for any others wishing to
sell us their snake oil. This company
continues to be a tumor in the industry.
Limping along with bad licensed properties. I look forward to their eventual demise. This is the result of a business objective solely concerned with short term gains.

I will never
forget what they did. I will never forgive what they did.

It perplexes me to this day. They had a sure fire hit on their hands and a mountain of good will from their fans. Gaute's mismanagement seems like the most obvious scapegoat but I am sure it is even deeper rooted than that.

There is no statute of limitations in the MMORPG world. "Remember the Combat Upgrade!!!"

Yeah...SOE/Smedley can still suck it, and by association so can DayBreakGames.

Coincidentally the NGE made me swear off MMOs altogether. It was Age of Conan and its hype master Erling that made me open my heart and give the genre another chance. You can imagine how much it stung to see a soulless corporation throw its customers under a bus yet again.

lol you guys are really holding grudges like that over video games?? Why bother? did not all those guys get what they deserved when the sales fell flat ? Every game that has ever put wow killer in its infomercials or forum bragging has failed miserably. I do not understand why people have such a deep connection with a game and then get butt hurt when its not up to their expectations. Just move on if you do not like it and be weary of any new games said company makes. Like all the people drooling here over their new survival game from the conan IP. Everyone here forgets how bad funcom really is about bugs and broken crap months and months after release. I expect nothing but a big ass nightmare for awhile when that game releases and judging by the secret worlds animations team Im expecting indie devs to release a better looking survival game to be honest. Just get over it all and move on geesh...

Dude!That was eight freaking years ago? Find a game with an Engineer class and play that. Maybe it can help you build a bridge...........And get over it.

What is the statute of limitations on injustice?

We must remember so that the suffering of thousands of people wasn't in vain - so we can make this a better world, one game at a time.

And what are you owed at this point? What damages have been incurred by you that need restitution?You played the game for 8 years, I don't think you are entitled to a refund. You want them to fix the game now? What good will that do? 8 years later FC finally releases their "WoW Killer" to the deafening sound of...........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8E_zMLCRNg

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” ― Haruki Murakami

Hi octa :waving: Missed your annual "this cancer of the industry is still there" thread at the anniversary a month ago, seemed you forgot to post it - which would've been quite a contradiction to the whole "I will never
forget what they did. I will never forgive what they did." shebang. Glad to see you just skipped a month for some reasons. No year should pass by without the usual "n+1" years octa thread.

lol you guys are really holding grudges like that over video games?? Why bother? did not all those guys get what they deserved when the sales fell flat ? Every game that has ever put wow killer in its infomercials or forum bragging has failed miserably. I do not understand why people have such a deep connection with a game and then get butt hurt when its not up to their expectations. Just move on if you do not like it and be weary of any new games said company makes. Like all the people drooling here over their new survival game from the conan IP. Everyone here forgets how bad funcom really is about bugs and broken crap months and months after release. I expect nothing but a big ass nightmare for awhile when that game releases and judging by the secret worlds animations team Im expecting indie devs to release a better looking survival game to be honest. Just get over it all and move on geesh...

I can understand why Fucom blamed the beta testers, you see be part of a beta nowdays and back then were not about helping test the game it was play the game and decide if its fun or not, only a small percentage actual filed bug reports.

If I had a game in beta I would demand beta testers to file atleast one bug a week minimum if no bug is filed you lost your spot as a beta tester.